Simply circulated:
Our neighborhood is in deep ache. We’re reeling from days of violence and division. And we hope with all our hearts that we will return to a spot the place our college students, college and workers really feel secure and, at some point, linked once more.
Our strategy to the encampment that was established on Royce Quad final week has been guided by a number of equally necessary ideas: the necessity to assist the protection and wellbeing of Bruins, the necessity to assist the free expression rights of our neighborhood, and the necessity to reduce disruption to our educating and studying mission.
The occasions of the previous a number of days, and particularly the terrifying assault on our college students, college and workers on Tuesday night time, have challenged our efforts to reside as much as these ideas and brought an immense toll on our neighborhood.
We approached the encampment with the aim of maximizing our neighborhood members’ capability to make their voices heard on an pressing world concern. We had allowed it to stay in place as long as it didn’t jeopardize Bruins’ security or hurt our capability to hold out our mission.
However whereas lots of the protesters on the encampment remained peaceable, finally, the positioning turned a focus for severe violence in addition to an enormous disruption to our campus.
A number of days of violent clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators put too many Bruins in hurt’s means and created an atmosphere that was utterly unsafe for studying. Demonstrators straight interfered with instruction by blocking college students’ pathways to lecture rooms. Not directly, violence associated to the encampment led to the closure of educational buildings and the cancellation of courses. And admittedly, hostilities have been solely persevering with to escalate.
Ultimately, the encampment on Royce Quad was each illegal and a breach of coverage. It led to unsafe situations on our campus and it broken our capability to hold out our mission. It wanted to return to an finish.
Over the previous a number of days, we communicated with and made a proper request to fulfill with demonstration leaders to debate choices for a peaceable and voluntary disbanding of the encampment. Sadly, that assembly didn’t result in an settlement.
To protect campus security and the continuity of our mission, early this morning, we made the choice to direct UCPD and out of doors legislation enforcement officers to enter and clear the encampment. Officers adopted a plan that had been rigorously developed to guard the protection of protesters on the web site. Those that remained encamped final night time got a number of warnings and have been provided the chance to go away peacefully with their belongings earlier than officers entered the world. In the end, about 300 protesters voluntarily left, whereas greater than 200 resisted orders to disperse and have been arrested.
UCLA services groups at the moment are within the means of taking down constructions and cleansing up the quad, and we ask that college students, workers and school proceed to keep away from the world.
I wish to be clear that we totally assist the appropriate of our neighborhood members to protest peacefully, and there are longstanding and strong processes in place that permit college students, college and workers to collect and reveal in methods that don’t violate the legislation or our insurance policies. I urge Bruins to reap the benefits of these many alternatives, which have been designed to assist advocacy that doesn’t jeopardize neighborhood security or disrupt the functioning of the college.
I additionally wish to acknowledge the importance of the problems behind the demonstrators’ advocacy. The lack of life in Gaza has been really devastating, and my administration has and can proceed to attach with scholar and school leaders advocating for Palestinian rights to have interaction in discussions which might be grounded in listening, studying and mutual respect. Equally, we are going to proceed to assist our Jewish college students and workers who’re reeling from the trauma of the brutal Oct. 7 assaults and a painful spike in antisemitism worldwide.
We may even proceed to analyze the violent incidents of the previous a number of days, particularly Tuesday night time’s horrific assault by a mob of instigators. When bodily violence broke out that night time, management instantly directed our UCPD police chief to name for the assist of out of doors legislation enforcement, medical groups and the hearth division to assist us quell the violence. We’re rigorously analyzing our safety processes that night time and I’m grateful to President Drake for additionally calling for an investigation.
The previous week has been among the many most painful intervals our UCLA neighborhood has ever skilled. It has fractured our sense of togetherness and frayed our bonds of belief, and can absolutely depart a scar on the campus. Whereas Counseling & Psychological Companies and Workers & College Counseling Heart can be found to lend assist to these in want, I additionally hope we will assist each other via this tough second and reaffirm the ties that unite us as a neighborhood of studying.
I have been off campus since two weeks in the past (the legislation faculty, not like undergrad, is on the semester system, so the final day of my Enterprise Torts class was on the 18th); I’ve additionally been out of city the previous couple of days. My information of what is taking place at UCLA is thus sketchy and second-hand. It seems clear that among the pro-Israel demonstrators tried to (unlawfully) tear down the (unlawfully positioned) barricades surrounding the encampment, and folks then began bodily preventing one another. Some accounts I’ve seen recommend that the fights have been principally straight initiated by the pro-Israel demonstrators (and never simply within the sense that the taking down of the barricades led to foreseeable reactions); others describe principally mutual melees. I am pleased to attend additional to see if the image is made any clearer.
Many sources additionally report that it took the police hours to intercede to interrupt up the fights, and a few recommend that the issue was that the college authorities didn’t correctly instruct the police to intercede extra promptly. If that is proper, then that strikes me as arduous to defend.
Regulation enforcement, in each sense of the phrase (the folks and the exercise), needs to be current in such conditions, proactively and never simply in a gradual response—particularly as to violence, but additionally as to vandalism, unlawful taking on of public house (house the place all UCLA college students needs to be free to go), and the like. College students needs to be free to specific themselves, on either side of the battle, however solely persistently with the legislation and with college guidelines. To shut with a quote from Jesse Singal’s Singal-Minded publication (and I like to recommend folks learn the entire merchandise):
What if widespread dysfunction is … unhealthy? And needs to be prevented?